I will be attending the BIL-PIL Healthcare Innovation Conference on October 30-31 in San Diego and like a kid going to his first day of school I’m excited. For those who don’t know the BIL-PIL conference is an offshoot of the BIL conference, a medical technology conference that has positioned itself as an alternative to the TED conference. Like the BIL conference, BIL-PIL is held in what they are calling the unconference format. Basically what that means is there are no fees to attend, no sponsored speakers and theoretically anyone can attend and participate. Think of it as the open source model of conferences.

Anyways, as the name implies the BIL-PIL conference covers healthcare and medical technology and while it is not strictly a transhumanist event the issues that will be discussed are all transhumanist issues. To quote from the website:

A few examples of topics to be addressed by those already scheduled to speak:

What are the consequences of the personal genomics revolution?

How can patients relate to each other as never before using Web 2.0 technologies?

How can science address life extension and aging?

How can diagnostics more accurately match a patient to the right therapy?

What does new legislation imply for the future of the biotechnology industry?

How can we revolutionize the way we think about paying for healthcare?

What if your iPhone could “look” at your pills and spot a possible drug interaction?

Genomics? Life extension? Biotechnology? We might as well be reading Citizen Cyborg. For those of you in San Diego or with the means to get there I really suggest checking this conference out. Should be a fun time with lots of interesting info presented. Oh, and I did mention it was free right?